In a case of animal cruelty, a Yunnan Province woman is suspected of having her cat butchered and leaving its carcass outside the pet shop where she bought it after the store owner refused to give her a refund days earlier.

Police in the city of Lijiang are now looking into what seems to be an act of revenge.

The store owner, surnamed Sheng, told police she found a suspicious black paper bag outside her pet shop on Sunday afternoon.

Inside was the partially skinned carcass of what Sheng recognized as a white-furred British shorthair she had sold to a woman for 2,560 yuan ($370) on January 3.

According to Sheng, the woman had returned to the store twice seeking a refund, claiming she was having money issues.

As per store policy, Sheng refused for the last time around 4 pm Sunday, and the woman left.

Sheng discovered the bag outside around 6:30 pm.

The customer could no longer be reached through the WeChat contact she had left with Sheng when purchasing the cat, reported thepaper.cn.

An uploaded of the cat triggered a human flesh search, producing what seems to be an apparent confession from the woman. 

"It was because of the bad attitude of the pet shop owner that in a fit of temper I took the cat to a hog farm to have it killed and then gave it back to the store," reads a screenshot from what netizens claim is the woman's WeChat account.

She chose to torture the cat to "vent her depression," read the screenshot.

thepaper.cn